In spite of how "The Avengers" series is best known, the opening season was a completely different kettle of fish.
The season from 1961 - mainly missing sadly - was more of a conventional police thriller. None of the programme's quirky humour was displayed, there was no female leading character and John Steed was technically the second lead behind Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel. The general synopsis was usually as follows: Keel would be approached by Steed who would seek the good Drs help in the fight against the latest villains of the show. Dr. Keel was most reticent about becoming involved in Steeds assignments but invariably was.
Only 3 episodes from 1961 exist and including the first 15 minutes of the opening episode.
Judging by the existing 3, the more gritty and realistic style works very well. Ian Hendry and the only John Steed - Patrick Macnee - compliment each other.
After Ian Hendry decided to focus on a film career, Patrick Macnee was made the show's leasing character. In addition, he would be the actor who would appear in more episodes than anyone else.
The series seemed to struggle in finding it's form/style. The characters of Dr. Martin King and that of the pop star Venus Smith, aren't all that interesting but one or two episodes they are in are quite good.
When Honor Blackman joined the series in 1962 for its second season, everything changed for the better. The series became ground-breaking in having a regular female character who was just as tough, brave, resilient and intelligent as John Steed.
The second and third seasons feature some marvellous episodes - too many to list them here. The series was firmly established as a huge success with Britain and the two leading actors became very popular with the viewers.
With Honor Blackman leaving in 1964 to appear in "Goldfinger" opposite Sean Connery, major changes were about to occur for "The Avengers" series.
Having been shot on video and in whole takes as though filmed live, now the show would be filmed on film and eventually in colour. In particular though, the most popular female character of them all would help tremendously in pushing the series to its peak of popularity - Diana Rigg as Emma Peel.
The on-screen chemistry between the characters of John Steed and Emma Peel was both natural and highly effective. The episodes were better than ever - several masterpieces are included and eventually, America became interested in securing the rights in broadcasting "The Avengers."
It came as a bit of a shock when Diana Rigg announced she was leaving the series. She had made the Emma Peel character her own.
For my money, the series declined in overall quality. The rather eccentric humour from the Emma Peel era worked for those episodes. Now with Linda Thorson was cast as Tara King, the stories became a bit too silly and I find many of the last season's episodes rather irksome.
The other problem I find with the last episodes, is that Linda Thorson has neither the acting ability nor the kind of personality that Diana Rigg brought to "The Avengers." 1969 was the right time to bring the series to a close. It had lasted over 180 episodes since 1961 and has earnt its place in British television history.
The season from 1961 - mainly missing sadly - was more of a conventional police thriller. None of the programme's quirky humour was displayed, there was no female leading character and John Steed was technically the second lead behind Ian Hendry as Dr. David Keel. The general synopsis was usually as follows: Keel would be approached by Steed who would seek the good Drs help in the fight against the latest villains of the show. Dr. Keel was most reticent about becoming involved in Steeds assignments but invariably was.
Only 3 episodes from 1961 exist and including the first 15 minutes of the opening episode.
Judging by the existing 3, the more gritty and realistic style works very well. Ian Hendry and the only John Steed - Patrick Macnee - compliment each other.
After Ian Hendry decided to focus on a film career, Patrick Macnee was made the show's leasing character. In addition, he would be the actor who would appear in more episodes than anyone else.
The series seemed to struggle in finding it's form/style. The characters of Dr. Martin King and that of the pop star Venus Smith, aren't all that interesting but one or two episodes they are in are quite good.
When Honor Blackman joined the series in 1962 for its second season, everything changed for the better. The series became ground-breaking in having a regular female character who was just as tough, brave, resilient and intelligent as John Steed.
The second and third seasons feature some marvellous episodes - too many to list them here. The series was firmly established as a huge success with Britain and the two leading actors became very popular with the viewers.
With Honor Blackman leaving in 1964 to appear in "Goldfinger" opposite Sean Connery, major changes were about to occur for "The Avengers" series.
Having been shot on video and in whole takes as though filmed live, now the show would be filmed on film and eventually in colour. In particular though, the most popular female character of them all would help tremendously in pushing the series to its peak of popularity - Diana Rigg as Emma Peel.
The on-screen chemistry between the characters of John Steed and Emma Peel was both natural and highly effective. The episodes were better than ever - several masterpieces are included and eventually, America became interested in securing the rights in broadcasting "The Avengers."
It came as a bit of a shock when Diana Rigg announced she was leaving the series. She had made the Emma Peel character her own.
For my money, the series declined in overall quality. The rather eccentric humour from the Emma Peel era worked for those episodes. Now with Linda Thorson was cast as Tara King, the stories became a bit too silly and I find many of the last season's episodes rather irksome.
The other problem I find with the last episodes, is that Linda Thorson has neither the acting ability nor the kind of personality that Diana Rigg brought to "The Avengers." 1969 was the right time to bring the series to a close. It had lasted over 180 episodes since 1961 and has earnt its place in British television history.